


Temporal

by Annuska



Series: Sonadow Week 2019 [7]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 13:46:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17408027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annuska/pseuds/Annuska
Summary: Shadow reminiscenses about the natural phenomena—or lack thereof—on the ARK.





	Temporal

Flowers aren’t meant to grow in space.

Not by any natural order. They’re meant to breathe in earth’s oxygen, absorb the sun’s rays, drink up nutrients from ground water and soil. Nowhere else in the known universe could support such life, naturally or artificially. Not other planets, not sophisticated space colonies.

But it didn’t mean efforts weren’t made.

Under the esteemed scientists aboard the ARK, such efforts were made. Sustaining plant life in space seemed trivial compared to building planet-destroying cannons or augmenting eons-old deities into artificial intelligence or fusing alien and animal DNA while simultaneously  _creating_  life—and yet…

“They never could grow these on the ARK,” Shadow mumbled, absently weaving wildflower stems together. He sat cross-legged on a flannel blanket, pile of flowers to his right, half-asleep boyfriend to his left. The late spring sun cast warm rays on them, and unlike the sun of summer, Shadow found it welcoming and comfortable. He couldn’t remember the first time he had felt the earth’s sun, but he could remember the unpleasant sensation of the dry, searing heat. This—set atop a hill dotted with wildflowers all around, interspersed with large trees suitable for relieving shade—was not that searing heat.

“Hm?” Sonic’s groggy voice carried across the breeze and wrapped around Shadow’s working fingers. He paused, glancing up from the flowers to see Sonic opening a single eye to look at him. “Flowers?”

“Yes.” Shadow set his completed work down and immediately set to the next. “I don’t think so. I remember… some things. Carrots. Potatoes. She  _hated_  carrots.”

Sonic turned on his side, resting his head in his hand and sat his elbow upright against the ground. He nodded, knowing exactly who  _she_  was.

“I can’t remember. I just remember this one day. She was so excited. We ran into the ecobiology lab—” Shadow could feel Maria tugging his arm along still “—they were trying to grow flowers in there. Daisies, just for her.” He wove a daisy into the flower chain. “But they hadn’t survived. We found them in the pods wilted and stunted.” He paused to look at the chain. “She tried so hard to hold it in but she went right back to bed and cried. I just remember sitting there with her. She just wanted to see real flowers.” She was still just a little girl.

For a second, Sonic just watched Shadow; his quiet, intent movements. How he wove with precision and deftness, but never haste. His body language as he spoke about Maria, the side glances as he tried to remember something just a bit too far off, too blurry, too staticy. “She gets to see them through you.”

Shadow looked at Sonic again. The blue hedgehog smiled with a warmth matching the late spring sun, but there was a sadness behind his eyes, a delicate enough touch of it to show Shadow that Sonic hurt for his loss, too. And Shadow—he had thought of Maria often, unfailingly. Even when his memories blurred and he didn’t know where he was, her name always stuck at the back of his mind. He carried her memory with him life a soldier carried a gun, like a monk carried a vow. But he hadn’t thought of her being with  _him_.

He didn’t know what to say, and so he leaned over and put the daisy crown on Sonic’s head in silence instead. With a smile, Sonic sat up and set the violet crown atop Shadow, then leaned over to kiss him gently.

“She’d be proud of you, Shad.” Sonic paused. “I’m proud of you, Shadow.”

“Thank you,” were the quiet, unsure words Shadow managed out. It was tempting to dwell on  _why_ —he could barely, even in all his manufactured self-importance, find the reasons for it on his own—but in the quiet serenity of the moment, the temptation left him and he set his hand atop Sonic’s instead of ask for the reasons why.

“I guess I never really thought of it like that, though,” Sonic mused aloud.

“What?” Shadow looked at Sonic, confused.

“Well,” Sonic shrugged, gesturing out at the meadow surrounding them. “You only got to see real flowers after coming here—to earth, I mean—right? How much other earth stuff have you been missing out on? What else do you wanna learn about?” He stood up, taking Shadow’s hand along with him and gently encouraging him up as well. “We’ve got all the time in the world now.”

Shadow stood, looking out across the horizon as he thought. What  _had_  he missed out on? He tried to search his memories, fragmented as they were, for the things he and Maria had put on their “when we get to visit Earth finally” wishlist and for the places he had been since being awoken. “Snow.”

“Snow?”

“Yes. I… want to see and touch it. I don’t think I ever have.”

“Oh! Well, that’s easy!” Sonic grinned, sweeping up the blanket and draping it over Shadow’s shoulders in one whirling blur, only barely managing to keep the flower crown set atop his head. “You’ll wanna bundle up.” He adjusted the crown and linked his arm with Shadow’s, leaning close as he held his hand out to illustrate his words. “Look at all those mountains! It’s just a quick run away. Anything is, if you want it.” He lowered his hand and smiled at Shadow. “What d’ya say? Wanna run away with me for a few days?”

Shadow considered it. Impulsiveness was one of Sonic’s virtues, not his—but the more he thought about it, the more enticing it sounded, and so he returned the smile with a nod. “Let’s go.”

“Whoohoo!” Sonic jumped up, pumping his fist in the air. “Let’s do it! I’ll be your tour guide to the world! First stop: snow! In fact, I know this adorable little place in Holoska...”

**Author's Note:**

> Day 7 for sonadow-week at Tumblr and the last in the challenge!
> 
> Prompt: winter fun/free day.


End file.
